1 Peter 4:1-6 - Christ showed restraint

How to be a witness to a broken world

1) We suffer by

Giving up comfort and control

We look for the most giving way and restrain ourselves

2) Restraint shows Holiness & our Holiness is a witness

A wold of doing what feels best at the moment - Fish, Music

Recap

2:5 - Like living stones being built up as a spiritual house - a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices

2:7 but those who don’t believe A stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense

3: 18 - suffered once for sins

Getting into Christ - the same way Noah got into the boat

VS 1 - Christ Suffered

Christ suffered in the flesh.

What does this look like?

Jesus

Comfort

Manger,

40 days without food,

slept in the desert,

travel

Motivated by love

Matthew 8:17 / Is 53 “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Matthew 8:20 “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Control - All-powerful - full of restraint, people were mean to him, yet he allowed them.

Jesus’ temptation - 2 out 3 temptations

Eat - show your power

Jump off this cliff - show your power

Jesus was not driven by what was comfortable - rather what showed love. This required restraint.

Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.

Meditate on Jesus’ birth & praying in the garden.

Not how much can I hold on to, rather how much can I give up

Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

Romans 6:7–10 ESV

7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

Is “whoever” us or Jesus? - YES

The commitment to stop sinning shows - “death no longer has dominion over us”

like Noah

like Jesus, this is not just one-time suffering

VS 2&3 - No longer human passions

The rest of your life - No longer for human passions - BUT for the will of God

The will of God vs the will of the Gentiles

Pre-conversion (time spent in the past)

Sensuality, Passions, Drunkenness

Unrestrained desire for food, alcohol, and sex

Lacking moral restraint like an animal

But your friends won't understand

VS 4

2 types of Friends - Old & New

Your old friends won't understand

Why are you not hanging with us? “Don’t be a killjoy bro!”

They will call you up and assume you want to…

Malign - speak against to injure your reputation

VS 5

but they will have to give an account to God - Judgement

no one escapes God’s judgment - you will have an alibi with Christ or be condemned by him.

“Being built up as little living stones” or the Stone of Stumbling”

VS 6

Who are the dead? The vast majority think peter is taking up an argument against Christianity

You say not to do these things but all the Christians not “enjoying” life die - use your body for fun before the consequences come

but they end up dead just like those who do…

Thus Peter is talking about those who showed restraint and have died.

So how do we wittiness?

1) We suffer by not looking for the comfortable thing, we look for what helps others see the love of Jesus.

Awkward conversations with people who have a different assumptions about food, alcohol, and sex

Giving of your time, talent, and resources to the kingdom of God

2) Restraint shows Holiness & our Holiness is a witness

As a Gen 1 & 2 royalty we limit our power like Jesus did - for others

Electricity